Thursday, February 14, 2008

His 'green realisations'

Received a message the other day on, what Bangalore-based C N B Rajesh terms, his Green Realisations! My friend is on the faculty of PES School of Engineering.Excerpts from his message:

A lot of people would like to talk about Green House Gases and what has happened to Bangalore since the past five years and so on. Even I used to brag about it too. It was fashionable and it was great to attract attention of people with the Green Issue. But one day I realized I was being mean about the green thing. The realization came about this way.

I have a six-month old son;love spending time with my baby. In fact, I have him right now, right here, in my lap, curiously watching the monitor as I type out this message. One day, I wanted to take my son out for some fresh air. And it was then it stuck me that I can't do so, because of the dust and the noise. I had suffered a long stretch of nausea, cough and head ache and the medicine I took did not take immediate effect because of the dust in the environment that I travel in (My workplace is on Hosur Road - close to electronic city).

Now, when I was looking forward for refreshing evenings with my son and wife, I realized that I would be exposing the little guy to all this dust. Of course, he would adapt over time and develop immunity, as all kids do, but one question rang in my head and really reeled me off.

AM I LEAVING BEHIND TO MY SON A DIRTY AND UNHEALTHY ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH ITS DIFFICULT FOR HIM TO SURVIVE?

I went on thinking about it. Well, once you are on this mode, it wont take rocket science to figure out that we are doing a great injustice to our next generation by neglecting this pressing issue. Once, my teacher had told me that the greatest thing that you could do for your country is to leave it neat and clean and usable by the next generation. I did not understand what she had meant at that time, but now I do.

We all talk about the green cover and planet earth so much that we don't realize that our children are going to live with what we leave behind for them. You may say that I am a very selfish guy. I am. I don't mind being called selfish, if such selfishness is going to create a better future for my son and his friends. If they can enjoy the green-ness of Bangalore and love this place for its Gardens, they would know why their parents wanted to stay in this city. They would relate well to their parents and their home land much better and would want to stay here than run away in search of some green haven!!

I know that this is the case with many of you who are reading this message. I also know that you will have many similar stories to share. But, we are all still making a lot of noise, without doing anything about it. I am no different;I am only making noise now. But, I am determined to convert it into action. I did the following things.

I have spoken to my college people. We have a group of volunteers who participate in social issues and our Director has agreed that, this issue can be addressed through them. We are just at the initial stages, but I am sure I can take it to the next level. People, if you are interested in Greening Bangalore (or your city), please do a very very very small thing. Take five minutes of time to jot down why you think that "Thinking Green" is important.Rajesh

3 comments:

Mere 'greening'at best would be a gesture. It is a reactive approach. The real problem is the population growth. Just stand for a few minutes in any corner of Bangalore or Mysore to experience the feel of being lost amidst a sea of people.Resources are needed to meet the estimated addition of an Australia every two years to India population.

I may sound very negative. But I do not see any solution emerging unless the population of India/ Bangalore is at least halved. When the pollution reaches its saturation limit, choking Bangaloreans and Mysoreans will know what has hit them.

Very well said,Rajesh: 'Thinking green is important.' Guru is right that population growth is the root cause. But alongside, we have to think of planting saplings, growing trees in large numbers.Only that is the immediate solution.

We are Friends Of Roadside Trees. This is about taking care of trees in our neighbourhood; about celebrating life by planting on vacant public space.To share your thoughts/experiences as contributor e-mail gv.krishnan@gmail.com